What OS Would Jesus Use?. Far be it for me to assume Jesus—should He even need an operating system—would go for my preferred OS, or roll with something open source, but the latter is a reality: Ubuntu Christian Edition.
It’s just your usual Ubuntu Linux distro, with an Internet parental control system (viz: porn blocker), and open-source Bible software, based on the Sword Project. I use MacSword, the Macintosh version of the Sword client, among other Bible software, and it’s a great reading and study aid. Now if we could just convince Zondervan to release a NIV Sword module…
[Via Tom via IM.]
Author Joel C. Rosenberg and his wife, Lynn, have formed The Joshua Fund, with the mission statement, “Helping Christians bless Israel and her neighbors in the name of Jesus, according to Genesis 12:1-3.” You can read more about their mission, as well as other aspects of the new non-profit, charitable organization, at their web site.
In the podcast from July 13, 2006, “What Do You Live For? (Part 1)”, Greg Laurie closes with this:
The first-century Christians did not out-argue the pagans, they out-lived them. And it’s worth noting that Christianity of the first century made no attempts to conquer paganism, and dead Judaism, by reacting blow-by-blow. Instead, the early believers out-thought, out-prayed, and out-lived the non-believers. Their weapons were positive, not negative.
They did not conduct protests or organize boycotts. They did not put on campaigns to try to unseat the Roman emperors. But instead they out-prayed, they out-preached, and they proclaimed the message of Christ, and to a large degree won a good portion of their culture over. Because they, like Paul, could say, “To live is Christ.”
And I suggest to you if we would say the same thing, we could impact our culture today as well, in a much more effective way. To live is Christ.
So after reading a bit, I’ve gone ahead and added Hollywood’s blog to my feed reader:
My summary: As a group, 21st century Christians aren’t getting it done. An elite group of progressives/academics are narcisitically writing about what makes us different as a culture. A large segment of spoiled, rich American Christians are unwilling to move out of their comfort zone. Another group thinks that if I make friends with enough non-Christians, and insert myself in a pagan culture, maybe one of those pagans will ask me about my faith - and that seems like wrong logic too. And a different group thinks that if I hand a gospel tract to a cashier or toll booth attendant they will graciously read it and wonder what they’ve always been missing. The Gospel is very clear that we are to love people, both lost and saved, and through loving them earn the right to share a Gospel with them that is real in our lives and affects noticeable change.
Who said the following?
“[Without the Bible] it’s like using a dictionary with one-third of the words removed.”
[T]he lack of “Bible knowledge is almost crippling in students’ ability to be sophisticated readers.”
“The Bible is the foundational text, certainly of the West … We need to know more, and we need to know it better.”
Answers on the other side of the break.
George P. Landow, professor, Brown University
Ulrich Knoepflmacher, professor, Princeton University
David Kastan, professor, Columbia University
Not exactly institutions of higher learning which are friendly toward Judaism and Christianity. Yet these gentlemen are among numerous professors who participated in a study by the Bible Literacy Project, which sought to learn more about the link between biblical literacy and education.
Every professor surveyed agreed with the following statement:
“Regardless of a person’s faith, an educated person needs to know about the Bible.”
I took two classes in college, one for each testament of the modern Bible, which treated the Bible as literacy, and even though I was a believer, it was still a great educational experience. If you consider yourself an enlightened individual, yet have never studied the biblical text, faith issues aside, you really are missing out.
[Quotes and source information courtesy of PFM’s Breakpoint e-mail.]